Ernie Els fell to 78th in the
standings, but taming the Blue Monster again would quickly change
that.
MORE FEDEXCUP:
Complete
Standings |
Weekly
Leaders We’ve learned two things in the first quarter of
the 2011 PGA TOUR season: the TOUR is completely unpredictable and
winning is
very important. Of the nine winners this season, seven of
them have already accumulated more FedExCup points than they did
all of the last regular season. Only one of the nine, Bubba Watson,
won an event in the PGA TOUR regular season last year
(Note: Jonathan Byrd also won on TOUR, but in the Fall
Series). A victory Here’s a comparison of the regular
season FedExCup standing for the nine winners:
2011 Winners Breakdown
|
Name
|
FEC Rank
|
Points
|
2010 Rank
|
2010 Points
|
| Mark Wilson |
1st |
1,055 |
131st |
343 |
| Jhonattan Vegas |
2nd |
752 |
N/A |
N/A |
| Rory Sabbatini |
3rd |
724 |
60th |
618 |
| Bubba Watson |
4th |
724 |
8th |
1,489 |
| D.A. Points |
5th |
713 |
78th |
544 |
| Aaron Baddeley |
6th |
658 |
93rd |
481 |
| Luke Donald |
7th |
618 |
22nd |
1,089 |
| Jonathan Byrd |
8th |
589 |
117th |
405 |
| Johnson Wagner |
36th |
250 |
172nd |
197 |
The top eight are slated to play in the World Golf
Championships-Cadillac Championship, while Wagner is idle.
CONSISTENCY PAYS OFF, TOO: Is anyone surprised
that the highest-ranked player in the standings without a win is
Matt Kuchar? The TOUR’s Mr. Consistency is currently 9th,
with 567 points, on the strength of his four top-10 finishes in six
starts. Nick Watney (20th, 352 points) ties Kuchar with a
TOUR-leading four top 10s. Six players (Hunter Mahan, Bill Haas,
Y.E. Yang, Gary Woodland, Jimmy Walker and Graeme McDowell) each
have three top 10s and all of them rank inside the top 25 in the
FedExCup standings. While Woodland and Walker will be idle this
week, the rest of these consistent players will be taking on TPC
Blue Monster.
BIGGEST MOVERS: Ricky Barnes was easily the
week’s biggest mover, earning 135 FedExCup Points and moving
up 151 spots from 222nd to 71st after a solo 4th at The Honda
Classic. A tie for 17th netted Justin Hicks 52.5 FedExCup Points
and a 74-spot jump from 214th to 140th. Also making big moves into
the top 125 were Charl Schwartzel (142nd to 95th) and Kent Jones
(151st to 108th).
NOTABLE DROPS: A pair of 2010 TOUR winners, Adam
Scott and Heath Slocum, fell below the 125th position in the
rankings this week. Scott, the 2010 Valero Texas Open champion,
dropped 12 spots to No. 126 while Slocum, the reigning McGladrey
Classic champ, has missed his last four stroke play cuts and went
from 121st to 129th. Ernie Els, whose march to the top of the 2010
regular season standings started at Doral, fell 10 spots to No. 78.
MORE ON LAST WEEK’S WINNER: Rory Sabbatini
moved up 31 spots in the FedExCup standings after winning The Honda
Classic. Sabbatini got things rolling in the previous week at the
opposite-field Mayakoba Golf Classic, closing with five birdies and
an eagle on his last 12 holes to move into a tie for fifth. He
carried that momentum into the Florida Swing and won on a very
tough track. With the TOUR divided between two events once again
this week, keep an eye on the Puerto Rico Open for the next hot
hand and potential unexpected winner.
-Chris Dunham